Archive Papers:

Prayer

8 May 1921 and 15 May 1921

A few words upon the effect that prayer has upon man's
soul from different points of view.

From the religious point of view the main thing in religion
is prayer. All the moral principles, the ethics and traditions
take the second place. And morally prayer is the greatest
virtue and the only way of being free from all sin, because
in prayer one reaches that spirit of God which is all-powerful
and which is ever-forgiving, and it is by the power of prayer
that man opens the doors of the heart, in which God the
Merciful abides.

There are many different feelings which have an influence
upon us, and which give a feeling of joy, of exaltation,
but there is no sentiment greater or more effective than
the feeling of bringing one's faults and weaknesses before
God to ask for His pardon. To become conscious of one's
shortcomings, to be sorry for them, to repent of them, and
to ask His forgiveness in all humility, no ethics, no philosophy
can give a greater joy than this. It is the sincere devotee
of God who knows best what feeling it is to humble oneself
before God. The proud one, ignorant of the greatness of
God, of His all-sufficient power, does not know what is
this exaltation that raises the soul from earth to heaven.
To be really sorry for one's errors is like opening the
gates of heaven. They say that John the Baptist spoke that
word on the coming of Christ: "Repent ye, for the kingdom
of Heaven is at hand." But this word is as living and fresh
as ever, at all times it answers the question of your soul.

Man is limited in his thought, in his speech, in his
action. Therefore naturally he is liable to follies and
errors, and his progress through life can only be made as
a little child learns to walk. The child falls a thousand
times before he can stand, and so many times he falls again
when he begins to walk. We human beings are not more than
the child before God. If we take this attitude in life,
not considering that if yesterday we failed today we shall
fail, and if we always hope that some day we shall walk
aright, that hour will come. Imagine if the child thought
that as he had fallen so often perhaps he would never walk!
That would make a mental impression on his soul, and he
would never be able to walk. But there is the natural impulse,
with the hope, "Next time I shall walk", that makes him
walk. So with us. Our follies, shortcomings, errors, are
natural, but when we defend ourselves, hiding our errors
from others and making virtues out of our shortcomings,
it is then we make a mistake. It is just like nurturing
our errors and wanting to err more. We must always develop
the sense of justice, and that sense can never be developed
if we judge others. The only way of developing that sense
is to judge ourselves continually and see where we are in
fault, and then in prayer to ask pardon and to ask for right
guidance. It is the most desirable way of living.

---------------------------------

Prayer

Prayer is a great virtue and is the only way of being
free from all sin. In prayer a man reaches the Spirit of
God which is all-powerful and ever-forgiving; and the power
of prayer opens the doors of the heart in which God, the
All-Merciful resides.

There are many different feelings which have their influence
upon men, and give joy and exaltation; but there is none
greater and more exalting than that of offering our faults
and weaknesses before God and asking His pardon with true
repentance and humility.

No ethics, no philosophy, can give greater joy than this,
which is sincere devotion to God; and the deepest joy is
his who knows best how to humble himself before God. The
proud man, ignorant of greatness of God, and of His all-sufficient
power, does not know this exaltation, which raises the soul
from earth to Heaven. To be really sorry for one's errors
is like opening the doors of heaven. Man is limited in his
speech and actions, and thus is naturally subject to faults
and error; his progress can only be made by the lesson of
life.

As the little child learns to walk, falling a thousand
times before he can stand; and after that falling again
and again before he learns at last to walk, so are we no
more than little children before God; we fail again and
again, but if we feel that because we failed yesterday we
shall do so again to-morrow, we shall never overcome. We
must always look forward with faith to the day when we shall
walk aright, and that day will surely come. If the child
thought, "As I have fallen so often perhaps I shall never
walk", that thought would make a mental image on his soul,
and he would never walk. Our follies and errors are natural;
but when we defend ourselves, making virtues of our shortcomings
and trying to hide our errors, it is as if we nurtured our
errors, trying to make them grow. The only real method of
growth is to judge ourselves constantly and to see where
we fail; then in prayer to ask for pardon and right guidance.

Man often thinks that, as God is the Knower of the heart
there can be no need of any recital or gesture in prayer;
but that it would surely be sufficient if he were to sit
in the silence and think of God. But this is not so; it
is according to the extent of a man's consciousness of prayer
that this prayer reaches God. If your body is still and
only your mind is working, it means that part of your being
is in prayer and part not; for man has both mind and body,
so that the complete being must be praying. In reality God
is within man; man is the instrument of God and through
him God experiences the external world.

Prayer is the way of conveying the God within to the
God without; and thought, speech and gesture make the prayer
complete.

Man asks another question as to why God, Who knows already
what he wants and what is the need of his life, should require
to be asked at all. For answer to this we have the words
of Christ; "Ask and ye shall receive; knock and it shall
be opened unto you." In other words, this means that though
God knows your need it has to become clear and definite
to yourself by prayer.

Then there is a third question which man asks, "Why does
God need praise from me? Who am I that I should offer Him
praise?"

True, we can never praise Him enough; never can our praise
be sufficient, but our souls are blessed with the impression
of the Glory of God whenever we praise Him. The soul could
praise God every moment and yet wanting to praise Him yet
more, it is constantly hungering and thirsting to find the
Beauty and Perfection of God. By the praise of God the soul
is filled with bliss; even to utter the name of God is a
blessing that can fill the soul with light, joy and happiness
as nothing else can do.

If we realized what joy comes after we have asked pardon
from our fellowman when we know we have been in fault, a
joy and bliss not to be imagined unless we have practiced
it, then we might perhaps imagine what joy and peace must
come from asking forgiveness of God, Whose Love is unlimited.
Asking pardon is like purifying the heart and washing it
white.

There is a beautiful story told of the King Akbar that
when he was grieving with an almost ungovernable grief over
the death of his mother, his ministers and friends tried
to comfort him by influence and power. Akbar replied, "Yes,
that is true, and that only makes my grief greater; for
while I have everyone to bow before me, to give way to me,
to salute me and obey me, my mother was the one person before
whom I could humble myself; and I cannot tell you how great
a joy that was to me."

Think, then, of the far greater joy of humbling one's self
before the Father-Mother God on Whose Love one can always
depend. A spark only of love expresses itself in the human
father and mother; the Whole of Love in God. In whatever
manner a man humbles himself it can never be enough to express
the humility of the limited self before Limitless Perfection.
Self-denial is not renouncing of things, it is denying the
self and the first lesson of self-denial is humility.

Then also men should unite in prayer, for the blessing
which can be received through prayer becomes a thousandfold
greater when received even by a few who are united in the
same desire and are praying together.

Note: The sentence "Self-denial is not renouncing
of things, it is denying the self and the first lesson
of self-denial is humility." was missing from the typewritten
copy of the lecture but is reported in Original Texts:
Sayings Part II, p73 and also appears in Religious Gatheka
8.

Comments by Sharif Munawwir:

"there are two 'lectures' in it, not one, and both
are marked to indicate that Murshid himself said they
were inaccurate. ... apparently one of these is
a record of the 'remarks' Murshid made on the occasion
of the first Universal Worship service, which took place
in London, the first Cheraga, Murshida Green, celebrating
(after her ordination).